Greater New Orleans

The May 3 runoff between incumbent Sam Caruso (left) and Pete O'Connell (right) for the Slidell City Council District E seat will round out the new council. The other council races were decided Saturday (April 5, 2014).
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Sam Caruso's political career dates to the late 1970s, when he first won a seat on the Slidell City Council. Pete O'Connell's political career dates to 2013, when he began putting out word that he would run for the Slidell City Council.

But while the two offer opposing levels of experience -- newcomer challenging longtime veteran -- they do share at least one thing in common: They're in a runoff for the District E Slidell City Council seat.

Caruso, who went on to become mayor before making his way back to the council by winning the District E post without opposition in 2010, led the April 5 primary with 48 percent of the vote. O'Connell was second with 32 percent. Third-place finisher Keith Sehon has said he is not endorsing either candidate in the runoff.

The candidates have stayed true to their message from the primary campaign, with Caruso campaigning on his experience and accomplishments and O'Connell campaigning on the need for new representation on the council and new ideas to move the government forward.

Caruso said his campaign has tried to "target'' areas of the district with neighborhood-specific messages. For instance, in the Breckinridge and Sterling Oaks area, he said, "very few people realize those subdivisions are in the city limits because I pushed it (as mayor).''

Being in the city limits, he said, has brought residents greater services and flood protection.

And in Lakewood, Caruso said he has told residents about a project to repair an outfall culvert to improve drainage. The city has $2.8 million in FEMA money for that work, which he said he and Mayor Freddy Drennan pushed for.

Caruso has also questioned his opponent's background, pointing to O'Connell's 2000 federal conviction for accepting unauthorized compensation as a government employee.

O'Connell, who at the time worked for the U.S. Maritime Administration, pleaded guilty to improperly accepting $3,250 in consulting fees. O'Connell said he accepted an offer from a friend to consult on a job without realizing it was a U.S. Coast Guard contract, which was forbidden.

O'Connell was sentenced to a year probation and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. O'Connell said it was a misdemeanor and points out that he continued working another six years for the Maritime Administration.

"I've had some people recently ask about it,'' he said. "It happened 13, 14 years ago. But I explain it.''

O'Connell said he has tried to reiterate what he said during the primary: the district's representation must be improved.

He said street flooding during a couple of recent rain storms has showed that drainage improvements are direly needed "on the east side'' of the district. Flooding concerns are especially prevalent in Sterling Oaks, he said.

Since the city is dependent on parish canals to handle much of that drainage, O'Connell said the city "needs to work better with the parish.''

O'Connell also continues to stress the need for Slidell to have a long-range business plan that would look at issues such as drainage and sewerage needs, number of city employees, and projected revenues and expenses. "You plan it out for five years. It's a model that you can tell people 'This is what our plans are.'''

The candidates, meanwhile, worry that voters won't show up for this election.

Turnout in the primary was around 28 percent of the district's 2,387 registered voters, St. Tammany Registrar of Voters M. Dwayne Wall said. And without a citywide issue in Slidell this time around turnout could be even lower.

Wall said election workers during the primary mistakenly "coded'' 44 voters in the 1500 block of Englewood Drive as being in District C, instead of District E. He said that has been corrected for the runoff and that no complaints had been lodged with his office.

Letters were sent to the voters in question to notify them of the situation, Wall said.